All Roads Lead
by Gundam Kaiser
Summary: Penny is your average boy-crazy girl short of a few brain cells, on an epic Pokémon quest to hunt down her missing senpai and BECOME! HIS! BRIIIIIIIIIIIIDE! ...Probably qualifies as a crack fic.


**All Roads Lead...**

* * *

As her Pokénger Z alarm clock began to ring, Penny blearily opened her eyes and brushed her bangs aside to check the time.

"Seven o'clock, huh. Welp, today starts my journey I guess, so it's time for food and shower and stuff."

It was the norm, for kids going on their first Pokémon journey, to go on their tenth birthday. Penny, however, had really not cared much about Pokémon one way or another at that age, and so she'd just stayed at home.

No, Penny had remained at home, and hadn't begun studying the subject of Pokémon even a little until she had turned twelve.

Now, two years later, she was ready.

Looking at herself in the mirror, just out from the shower and not having toweled herself off yet, Penny decided that she was prepared.

"I'm sick of waiting for him to come back and make good on his promise. I'll hunt him down myself!"

Punching toward the sky, her eyes were lit ablaze with passion as she declared, "I will absolutely, definitely, BECOME! SENPAI'S! BRIIIIIDE! ! ! ! !"

At that time, her still very-sleepy mom entered the bathroom and muttered, "not dressed like that, you won't," before starting to brush her teeth.

Penny looked down at herself, and then at her mother. "I don't get it."

Without pausing in her morning mouth-cleansing ritual, Penny's mother explained, "You are not leaving the house until you put some clothes on. And get dried first, for God's sake."

Penny rolled her eyes, but complied.

Some time later, Penny - now in an appropriate state of dress for adventuring - headed next door to Professor Oak's lab to take her final certification exam and report for her starter.

An hour after that, she had three Pokéballs on a table before her.

Oak said, "Well, you've passed your tests, but before I let you choose your starting Pokémon, I want you to promise me something."

Penny looked up at the wise Professor, raising her eyebrow in response.

Giving the blonde a very stern look, Oak said, "A Pokémon is more than just a pet, it's a _partner_. Make sure you raise them well, and that means being responsible. Not just for keeping them well-fed, but for their health and happiness as well. So promise me, that you'll take good care of your partners."

Now, Penny honestly hadn't given much thought or care to the prospect of _actually_ raising Pokémon. To her, it was just incidental, a means to reach her end.

But Oak, on some level or another, got it through to her that raising Pokémon wasn't something to be taken so lightly, that by becoming a trainer she was making a commitment.

Her mother, and other people besides, had told her as much before. Just words, nothing more, and those words had gone in one ear and out the other. But coming from Oak, they were _more_ than just words. Coming from him, with his full and utter conviction in those words, they became _important_ words.

Penny hesitated for a few seconds, before her face fell. Looking at it from someone else's perspective - not something Penny often engaged in - she was going to use innocent creatures to fulfill her own selfish goals, hardly even caring about said creatures at all.

Needless to say, on actually _thinking_ about it - also a rare occurrence - Penny felt like a massive heel. But because it seemed to her like the only way to achieve her goals at all, she still wanted to do it anyway, which just in turn made her feel worse.

Eventually, Penny ran a hand through her blonde tresses in frustration, before the answer came to her in a flash of insight.

Even if Penny was just using her Pokémon team as a means to an end, she'd raise them well anyway, and they would grow to become her INVINCIBLE ARMY OF **LOVE! ! ! !**

Eyes once more ablaze with passion as thoughts of senpai ran through her mind, Penny pumped her fist into the air with a sense of triumph, declaring, "I will raise my Pokémon with **LOVE! ! ! ! !**"

Oak paused for a moment, before deciding that it was an good enough answer considering who he was dealing with, and stepping aside. "Well then Penny, inside those three Pokéballs are Pokémon. Which one will you choose for yourself?"

Penny examined each of the three, before making her decision.

"This one is the cutest!" she exclaimed, holding Squirtle's Pokéball high. With a big smile, she declared, "I'll call him Tenkawa, after my favorite character from Poké Successor Nadesico!"

And then, without bothering to get a map, or camping equipment, or anything, Penny ran off into the wild blue yonder of Route 1...

Or would have, if Oak hadn't called out and held her up.

Turning back to face the undisputed Pokémon expert, Penny asked, "Something else, Professor?"

Oak handed her a scarlet handheld computer, explaining, "This is a Pokédex, an encyclopedia of all recorded Pokémon in the Kanto region. After my grandson and his rival helped to fill the prototypes a few years ago, it's become standard to hand them out to starting Trainers as a reference tool."

Penny stared at the Pokédex, before fiddling with it and grinning. "Cool, this'll come in handy."

Giving Oak a thumbs up and a big smile, she declared, "Y'know, you're a pretty cool guy!"

Oak smiled in return, and advised her to get a town map from her mom.

* * *

That evening, Penny had come into view of Viridian City, and was more than inclined to find something nice and comfy to sleep on.

So excited was she, in fact, that she tripped over someone's lost Pokéball and fell flat on her face.

Whimpering as she began to rise, Penny inspected her scraped knee. Without any first aid supplies, however, there was nothing to do but walk it off.

At that time, she spotted a wild Pidgey over in the field. Now, Tenkawa had gotten a bit stronger during the course of the day, bravely protecting his trainer from fiercely pitiful Ratatta.

And since Penny had found herself a new Pokéball, she figured that she might as well give this "catching new 'mons" thing a shot.

Opening her Pokédex, Penny pulled up the entry on Pidgey. "It says that they don't really like to fight... well, since I'm so nice, I'll make it a quick one!"

Penny retrieved Tenkawa's Pokéball and, carefully gauging her aim, tossed it with all her might.

"GET IT TENKAWA!"

The in-use Pokéball beaned the wild Pidgey on the head, stunning it for a few seconds while Tenkawa was released.

"BOOYAKA, FIRST STRIKE!" Penny punched the air in glee, before proceding to command her Squirtle. "Okay Tenkawa, Tackle that bird to the ground so it can't escape!"

Tenkawa looked a little uncertain, but obeyed orders and lunged at the hapless bird and pinned it to the ground.

Since the Pidgey seemed to be sufficiently dazed, Penny then yelled, "Tenkawa, get clear! I'm gonna try and catch it!"

Penny tossed her new, empty Pokéball this time, and she once again beaned the poor bird on its head. Pidgey, stunned and taken by surprise as it was, didn't have a chance at resisting capture.

Once the Pokéball stopped shaking, Penny jumped in the air with a triumphant shout, and scooped up her partner in her arms. Snuggling with her Squirtle affectionately, she said, "Awesome work, Tenkawa!"

Tenkawa still seemed hesitant, but wound up smiling despite itself.

The obligatory victory cheer taken care of, Penny returned Tenkawa to its Pokéball and began contemplating what to name her new Flying Pokémon.

Resting her chin in her hand, she just stood in the middle of the path and thought for a few minutes, before snapping her fingers as she decided. "I'll call him Liquid, after that sexy shirtless guy from Poké Gear Solid!"

Although, it suddenly occurred to her that Tenkawa _did_ look a bit roughed up from having fought so much over the course of the day, and now Liquid obviously had just been monhandled a bit carelessly too...

Penny decided that as good as turning in for the night sounded, it could afford to wait until _after _checking into a Pokémon Center and getting her pals checked on.

* * *

The next morning, after having slept on a couch in the Pokémon Center, Penny decided that she'd start her search for Senpai by checking out the Viridian Gym... but found the doors locked.

She asked a few citizens about it, and the general impression she got was that the Leader was an egomaniac who wouldn't face any challengers unless they already had the other seven Gym Badges.

Penny mulled it over for a bit, before shrugging and deciding to just head on to Pewter City and start there.

"And if the Viridian Leader will only take on trainers with seven badges," she thought, "then maybe he'd have a higher chance of remembering Senpai if he made it that far..."

And so it was with thoughts about her senpai, and without anything remotely resembling a plan or preparedness, that Penny began heading into Viridian Forest...

* * *

**Any chance I can maybe get some reviews? Also, HAPPY NEW YEAR!**

**Also, I could do with a couple of mon suggestions to round out Penny's team, if anyone's interested...**


End file.
